@omnipotens *MRNA vaccines (sorry)

@swiley @omnipotens
AFAIK there exist (in nature) RNA viruses which do rewrite DNA, they're called retroviruses:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrovirus

I don't know biology enough to know what the difference between those and the pfizer vaccine is, but I'd expect that the vaccine shouldn't have the keys necessary to enter the nucleus. I haven't seen anyone check it tho.

@swiley @omnipotens According to The CDC

mRNA vaccines have strands of genetic material called mRNA inside a special coating. That coating protects the mRNA from enzymes in the body that would otherwise break it down. It also helps the mRNA enter the dendritic cells and macrophages in the lymph node near the vaccination site.

mRNA can most easily be described as instructions for the cell on how to make a piece of the “spike protein” that is unique to SARS-CoV-2. Since only part of the protein is made, it does not do any harm to the person vaccinated but it is antigenic

So no, the mRNA vaccine does nothing to DNA. In case you don’t know already, normally in our cells, special proteins read DNA in the nucleus, and produce mRNA. The mRNA is then read by other proteins to produce uh… every other protein. It’s a layer of security to keep a lot of stuff from having to access our DNA or enter the nucleus.

mRNA viruses of course reverse the process, and our cells have proteins to do that, because evolution isn’t survival of the fittest so much as survival of the barely adequate. But the mRNA vaccine does not have that “un-create mRNA into DNA” hack, it’s just mRNA as if it came from the nucleus. It gets in cells, makes them start pumping out proteins our immune system recognizes as the virus until our body’s like “holy shit we’re infected!” The viral mRNA that turns our blood pressure regulation system on its head and kills us is not included in the vaccine.

That’s as far as I understand it, at least.